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Thousands of China’s urban elite took to the streets last year in protest against expanding garbage incinerators, angered by the threat to both their health and the value of their homes.

City residents in the capital Beijing and the relatively well-off coastal provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong all came out in 2009 to try and block new constructions or expansions of incinerators, an annual review by one of China’s oldest and best known environmental groups, Friends of Nature, said.

“Health and safety are people’s bottom line. When they feel threatened, and there’s no other way to defend themselves, they protest,” said Yang Changjiang, a journalist and co-author of the fifth annual Green book of the Environment report.

Some of the protests are successful. The government in southern Guangzhou city put off plans to install one incinerator when hundreds of people demonstrated, demanding that the facility be relocated.

But China has already surpassed the United States as the world’s largest producer of household garbage as increased prosperity brings increased consumption.

The government is struggling to find new ways and places to dispose of the growing heap of rubbish, the report said. With space already at a premium in a country struggling with a shortage of farmland, incineration is an obvious alternative.

Beijing and Guangzhou now generate around 18,000 tons of garbage per day, but only have capacity to process 10,400 tonnes and 12,000 tonnes respectively, state media have reported.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Protests included rallies, petitions, sit-ins, online forums and group efforts to dig into the financial affairs of officials who might be benefiting from any construction.

“We’re tired of what the experts and officials said,” one user of an anti-garbage-burning forum set up by residents of southern Guangdong province wrote. “We had no choice but to obey their decisions. It’s time for change.”

They are part of a sea-change in the nature of environmental protests that first gained widespread attention with efforts to block a chemical plant planned for the port of Xiamen in 2007.

Previously, most of those who challenged officials were farmers living with huge levels of pollution. The impact on their lives or livelihood was disastrous enough to outweigh the potential risks of taking on the government.

The concerns of the middle classes, about the future of their health or assets, brought a different kind of protest.

“Many people involved in 2009 cases are rich,” said Xie Xinyuan, project coordinator at Friends of Nature.

“They are able to hire people to do professional research and present it to the public. Or they are so well-educated that they can do it by themselves,” Xie said.

“People who live in less developed areas may also be harmed by the garbage crisis, but there is not so much they can do.” So far Beijing at least has stuck to plans for more incinerators, adding three by 2012, and a further four by 2015.

By then, 8,200 tonnes of garbage could be going up in smoke – much of it foul-smelling and potentially toxic – around the capital each day.

“I’m not optimistic about the situation this year,” Yang said. “Nationwide, 41 new incinerators will be built. It could cause some very serious problems.”

When Rinnai New Zealand opened its doors in 1974 gas heaters were powered by coke and coal, Christchurch hosted the 10th Commonwealth Games and we went to Rinnai if we wanted a portable stove. How times have changed. The company now has a turnover close to $50m and leads the way in product development and energy efficiency in the gas industry.

“The discovery and development of the Maui gas field fundamentally changed the gas industry with natural gas becoming a serious energy source for homes and businesses,” says Ray Ferner, managing director of Rinnai New Zealand.

Ferner sees a bright future ahead for the company: “Gas has an excellent future in New Zealand. Heating and cooking requirements for homes can be efficiently and effectively provided for by gas, and using the fuel directly in the home is the most effective use of this natural resource.”

With global concerns for energy at a peak – both ecologically and economically –Â efficiency is a trend that Rinnai expects will continue to gain momentum. “The concerns over global energy use and climate change will drive better performance from all energy related categories,” says Ferner, adding that “Rinnai is focused on being eco-friendly. Our research and development functions develop appliances that lead the world in energy-efficient outcomes.”

Rinnai’s two latest fireplaces, for example, are best of class for efficiency worldwide. The company also has a range of condensing water heaters that are 10 per cent more efficient than a standard solution.

“Current focus on the environment and efficiency in general is not a temporary fad. Huge resources across the world are being directed at developing better environmental outcomes, which will see developments and innovations that redefine the way we do things. It will be interesting to watch and to be a part of this,” says Ferner.

“Boosting the solar power system with an efficient gas booster is the most effective water heating system bar none and we see great opportunity for this to grow,” he adds.

There is agreement under the Kyoto Protocol not only to create greater energy efficiencies, but also to seek out and utilise alternative energy sources.Â Rinnai embraces this and is working to create user-friendly and planet-friendly gas appliances.